Furnace-charging apparatus



C. A. WULF FURNACE CHARGING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 15. 19252fihee1zs-Sheet l I N VEN TOR.

awe/ W146 ATTORNEY,

1,641,651 1927' c. A. WULF v I FURNACE CHARGING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 15,1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

A TTORNEXF Patented Sept. 6, 1927.

UNH'E'ED STATES rarest orrics.

FURNACE-CHARGING APPARATUS.

Application filed November 13, 1925. Serial No. 68,826.

The object of my invention is to produce a simple and efficient handoperative device for charging and discharging electrically heatedenamelin'g and other similar furnaces, the construction being such as torequire a minimum of floor area, and such as to insure against thepossibility of contacting the heating elements.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my in invention. Fig. 1 is a sideelevation of my charging truck, with a receiving end of a furnace; Fig.2 a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 1, together with adjacent loadingand unloading trucks or platforms; Fig. 3 a section on line 33 of Fig.1; 4

a fragmentary section on line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 a vertical section on an enlarged scale on line 55 of Fig. 2;Fig. 6 a vertical section, on an enlarged scale on line 66 of Fig. 2;Fig. 7 a plan in partial horizontal section of the parts shown in Fig.6; Fig. 8 a section on line 88'of Fig. 6; Fig. 9 a transverse verticalsection of one of the loading or unloading trucks, with the chargingfork shown in section.

In the drawings 10 indicates a portable frame conveniently supportedupon castors 11 and provided at the end adjacent the furnace with apivot-pin 12, the lower end of which is adapted to seat in a socket 13arranged in the floor 14 adjacent the furnace 15 in such position that,when pin 12 is in socket 13, the length of frame 0 maybe mediallyaligned with the mouth of furnace 15.

said cross-bar is a frame 27. The parts 25,

26 and 27 form a structure which may be conveniently referred to as thecharging fork.

In order to hold the charging fork with its fingers 26 in anchoredalignment with the furnace, during projection of said fingers into thefurnace, I provide a locking bolt 30 mounted in suitable brackets 31 oncross- The upper longitudinal members 20 of ing normally urged tolocking position by spring 33. At the rear end of frame 10 I arrange acam 35 capable of acting upon bolt 30 to retract it from notch 32 whencross-bar 22 has been moved to its farthest outward position away fromthe furnace. Cross-bar 22 carries a cam 36 adapted to engage rollers 37at the upper end of a bolt 38 so as to extract its lower end from asocket 39 at the moment bolt 30 is retracted. Socket 39 'isso placedthat, when bolt 38 drops therein, frame 10 will be accurately alignedwith the mouth of the furnace.

1.1 order to raise and lower the fork I provide a shaft 40 journaled at41 on bushing 23 and provided with a pinion 42 meshing with a rack 43 onplunger 24, said rack being formed in the spline.

Journaled at 45, on frame 27, is an operating shaft 46 connected toshaft 40 by universal joint 47 and provided at its outer end with across-bar 48. V 1

In order to sustain the plunger 24 and its fork in a raised position Iprovide a sliding strut 50 slidably mounted upon the upper end ofbushing 23 by means of pin and slot connection 51 (Fig. 6) and connectsaid strut by a rod 52 with an operating lever 53 pivoted at 54 on frame27 the arrangement being such that, when the cross-bar 25 is raised,strut 50 may 'be moved into or out of position beneath said cross-bar.

The articles which are to be projected into and withdrawn from thefurnace may be placed upon the fork fingers 26 in any de sired mannerbut I find it most convenient to provide two or more loading trucks 60,sa1d trucks being conveniently supported upon casters 61 -and providedwith'top rails 62 upon which may be supported a series of cross-bars 63upon which'the articles 64 may be supported.

At one end each truck 60 is provided with a pivot pin 65, the lower endof which normally projects into a socket 66 in the floor, several ofsand sockets being provided so that two or more of the charging trucksmay be grouped around the frame 10, as shown in Fig. 2, the arrangementbeing such that, when the cross-head 22 has been drawn rearwardly to aposition where bolt'30 has been retracted so as to free bushing 23 forrotation and pin 38 has been retracted, the op. erator may, by graspinghandle 48, swing i into alignment with the space between the bolts and38.

frame 10 about, its pivot bolt 12 as a vertical axis, and swing the forkabout the of bushing 23, and thus bring the fingers 26 frame 10 as faras possible, thus'retracting Frame 10 is then swung about pin 12 and thefork is swung about in cross-bar 22 until. forward ends of fingers 26are directed towards the space between bars 62 of the loading; truck.Frame 10 is then swung back towards its normal position, fingers 26(Jo-acting with the loading truck in such manner that the fork swingsaboutits vertical axis and the load- .ing truck swings about itsvertical axis.

Thereupon the fork 25 may be raised so as to lift the articles clearfror the loading truck and the forkswings back to aligned positionrelative to frame 10, whereupon the fork be swung forwardly into the furnace. Vhenever the cross bar 22 is pulled to a position to the rightbeyond that shown in F ig. 7 the roller at the outer end of the bolt 30enters the cam slot 35 and when the straight part of the cam is reachedthe bolt 30 is retracted from notch 32 and the fork head 33 whereby thefork may be rotated.

onits pivot 24-. If effort is made to move the cross head from thisposition at any time except when the fork is in proper alinement withthe frame, such movement is blockedbecause, as soon as the roller onbolt 30 reaches the incline of cam 35, it may not lee-projected inwardlyby such inclined portion'because the inner end would engage theperiphery of head 28. Consequently no movement of the cross head,,cantake place, at this point, until the fork has beenbrought intoalinementwith the frame so that notch 32 lies opposite the inner end ofbolt 30. It will be noted that there can be no forward movement of thefork on frame 10 except when frame 10 is in position to permit bolt 38to enter socket 39 and when bushing 23 is in position to pe unit bolt 30to enter notch 32. There is, therefore, no possibilityof a carelessworkman projecting the fingers 26 into the furnace in such manner as tocontact with and injure the heating elements 70.

When the articles have been properly treated within the furnace, theoperation of the fork may be reversed and the hot articles extractedanddeposited onone' of the loadsaid fork in for normally locking the fork.against pivotal movement on. the cross-head when ing trucks, at leasttwo of such trucks being preferably provided so that an operator may beloading one while articles are cooling on the other. These. trucks may,if desired, be loaded and unloaded at a distant point and brought to aposition where their pins 65 may be dropped into an appropriate socket66. i

I claim as my invention:

1. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a track frame, means forpivetaily anchoring said frame adjacent the mouth of afurnace, means forlocking said frame in alignment with the furnace, a cross-head mountedon said frame and movable lengthwise thereof, a charging fork pivotallymounted on said cross-head, means by which said forkniay be raised andlowered, and means for normally locking the fork against pivotalmovement on the cross-head when said fork is in proper alignment withthe frame.

2. A furnace chargin apparatus comprising a track frame, means forpivotally anchoring said frame adjacent the mouth of a furnace, meansfor locking said frame in alignment with. the furnace, a cross-headmounted on said frame and movable lengthwise thereof, a charging forkpivotally mounted on said cross-head, means by which said fork may beraised and lowered, means by which said fork may be sustained in itsraised position, and means for normally locking the fork against pivotalmovement on the cross-head when said fork is in proper a furnace, meansfor locking said frame in alignment with the furnace, a. cross-headmounted omsaid frame and movable lengthwise thereof, a charging forkpivotally Q is mounted on said cross-head, means by which be raised andlowered, means said fork isv in proper alignment with the frame, andmeans carried by the frame for said fork may be raised and lowered,means by which said fork may be sustained in its raised position, meansfor normally locking the fork against pivotal movement on the cross-headwhen said fork is in properalignment with the frame, and means carriedby the frame for retracting said lock when the fork is in retractedposition upon the frame.

on the cross-head, means for raising and lowering the charging fork, anda loading truck pivotally anchored alongside the charging frame andhaving upper load-re ceiving portions between which the charging forkmay be projected.

6. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a charging frame, means forpivotally anchoring said charging frame adjacent. a furnace, means forlocking said charging frame in alignment with the furnace, a crossheadmovably mounted on the charging frame, a charging fork pivotally mountedon the cross-head, means for raising and lowering the charging fork,means for looking the charging fork against rotation when aligned withthe charging frame, and a loading truck pivotally anchored alongside thecharging frame and having upper load-receiving portions between whichthe charging fork may be projected.

7. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a charging frame, means forpivotally anchoring said charging frame adjacent a furnace, means forlocking said charging frame in alignment with the furnace, a cross-headmovably mounted on the charging frame, a charging fork pivotally mountedon the cross-head, means for raising and lowering the ch r 'ing fork,means carried by the cross-head for retracting the aligning lock of thecharging frame, and a loading truck pivotally anchored alongside thecharging frame and having upper load-receiving portions between whichthe charging fork may be projected.

8. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a charging frame, means forpivotally anchoring said charging frame adjacent a furnace, means forlocking said charging frame in alignment with the furnace, a crossheadmovably mounted on the charging frame, a charging fork pivotally mountedon the cross-head, means for raising and lowering the charging fork,means for looking the charging fork against rotation when aligned withthe charging frame, means carried by the cross-head for retracting thealigning lock of the charging frame, and a loading truck pivotallyanchored alongside the charging frame and having upper loadreceivingportions between which the charging fork may be projected.

9. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a charging frame, a pivotalanchorage for said frame adjacent a furnace, a crosshead movably mountedon said frame, a bushing pivotally mounted on a vertical axis on saidcross-head, a locking bolt adapted to lock said bushing against pivotalmove-' ment, a cam carried by the frame and arranged to retract saidbolt when the crosshead is adjacent one end of its movement, a chargingfork mounted'in said bushing and vertically movable relative to thesame,

an operating member mounted on said fork,

.ieans operated by said operating member by which the fork may be raisedand lowered in its bushing, a locking bolt carried by the frame andadapted to engage the floor to lock the frame in alignment with thefurnace, and means carried by the cross-head for retracting saidlast-mentionedbolt when the cross-head is at the outer extreme of itsmovement;

1() A furnace charging apparatus comprising a chargingframe, a pivotalanchorage for said frame adjacent a furnace, a

cross-head movably mounted on said frame, a bushing pivotally mounted ona vertical axis on said cross-head, alocking bolt adapted to lock saidbushing against pivotal movement, a cam carried by the frameand'arranged. to retract said bolt when the crosshead is adjacent oneend of its movement, a charging fork mounted in said bushing andvertically movable relative to the same, a

shaft journaled on the bushing, connectionsbetween said shaft and forkwhereby the fork may be raised and lowered by said shaft, an operatingshaft journaled on the fork, a universal joint connecting said shafts, alocking bolt carried by the frame "and adapted to co-act with the floorto lock the frame in alignment with the furnace, and means carried bythe cross-bar for retracting said last-mentioned bolt when the cross-baris in itsouter-most position.

11. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a track frame, a verticalpivotal anchorage for one end of said frame, a crossbar mounted on saidframe and movable longitudinally thereof, a charging fork pivotallymounted on said cross-bar, means by which said charging fork may belocked against rotation on the cross-bar, lock-retracting means arrangedat the outer end of movement of the cross-bar, said locking means andlock-retracting means being of such character that the fork is lockedagainst rotation except when the cross-bar is at the outer end of itsstroke and the cross-bar is locked against movement except when the forkis in proper alignment so that it may be locked against rotation. i

12. A furnace charging apparatus comprising a track frame, a verticalpivotal anchorage for one end of said frame, a crossbar mounted on saidframe and movable longitudinally thereof, a charging fork pivotallymounted on said cross-bar, means by 1 means and leek-retracting meansbeing of such eharaicter'that the fork is locked against rotation exceptwhen the cross-bar is at the outer end of its stroke and the cross-bar1s .loekedagainst movement except when the fork is in: proper alignmentso that it may bolock-ed against rotation, means for locking the trackframe against pivotal movement about its anchorage, and means controlledby the crossbar for retracting said last-mentioned locking means whenthe cross bar is at the outer extreme of its movement.

13, A fnrnace charging apparatus comprising a track frame, a verticalpivotal anchorage for one end of said frame, a crossbar mounted on saidframe and movable longitudinally thereof, a charging fork ivotallymounted on said cross-bar, means Ey which said charging fork may belocked against rotation on the cross-bar, lock-retracting means arrangedat the outer end of mama.

I it lbS anchorage", and means by the crossbar for retracting mentionedlocking means when bara; the outer extreme of its movement, theco-action between the cross-bar con:- trolled means and thelast-mentioned lock li of snch character: that the cross-bar may not beshifted on its track frame except \vh the track frame is in position topermit proj ction of said last-mentioned. locking means.

1hr witness whereof, I. have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis,Indiana, this 10th said lastthe crossday of November, A; D. one.thousand nineh-undred and twenty-five.

CHARLES A. WVULF.

frame against pivotal movement controlled

